Heir to an illegal gambling business owned by his murdered father, Valerio spends his days working for his uncle Linduarte, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy while dreaming of getting out and going straight with his wife Regina. But when the opportunity presents itself, Valerio and Regina’s desperate stab at a new life leaves them embroiled in a downward spiral of treachery and corruption. Blinded by greed and beset by paranoia, the couple is swept into the violent undertow of Rio de Janeiro’s criminal underworld, leaving behind a bloody wake of bodies and betrayal.
One of Brazil’s most-anticipated films of the year, Fernando Coimbra’s successor to 2013’s A Wolf at the Door is a blood-soaked crime thriller that marries the darker shades of the Coen Brothers’ irony to the melodramatic flourishes of Shakespeare, finding inspiration in the murderous scheming of Macbeth, the obsession and revenge of Hamlet, and the violent excess of Titus Andronicus. Carnival is Over is a withering social critique wrapped in a bleakly comic tragedy where no one is left unscathed.
Leandra Leal, Irandhir Santos, Thiago Thomé, Pêpê Rapazote, Ernani Moraes, Augusto Madeira
Brazil/Portugal
2024
In Portuguese with English subtitles
At Vancouver Playhouse
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Rui Pires, Daniela Antonelli Aun, Gabriela Tocchio, Ana Saito, Pablo Torrecillas, João Fonseca, Fernando Fraiha, Rodrigo Castellar, José Alvarenga Júnior, Leandra Leal, Marcio Fraccaroli, Veronica Stumpf
Producer
Caio Gullane, Fabiano Gullane, André Novis, Fernando Coimbra, Luís Galvão Teles, Gonçalo Galvão Teles
Screenwriter
Fernando Coimbra
Cinematography
Júnior Malta
Editor
Karen Harley
Production Design
Caio Costa, Rafael Torah
Original Music
Thiago França
Fernando Coimbra
Fernando Coimbra is a screenwriter and director who was born in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. He graduated in Film and Video from the University of São Paulo in 1999. His debut feature, A Wolf at the Door (2013), won Best Film at San Sebastián in the Latinos Horizontes section. Coimbra also directed episodes of Narcos and Netflix’s Sand Castle (2017). His latest film, Carnival is Over, was developed at the 2015 Sundance Screenwriter Lab and received the institute’s Global Filmmaking Award.
Filmography: A Wolf at the Door (2013); Sand Castle (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Camp
Reeling from two devastating tragedies, Emily (Zola Grimmer) takes refuge at a summer camp for troubled youth, where she has been offered a position as counsellor. She finds friendship, but also something more unexpected, something truly troubling...
Vivaldi and Me
Venice, 1716. Composer Antonio Vivaldi teaches at an orphanage for abandoned girls, and establishes a deep rapport with violinist Cecelia — but their collaboration is threatened by her impending arranged marriage.
Rose of Nevada
This disconcerting film from the director of Bait and Enys Men feels like a message from another era: two men sign on to a Cornish fishing trawler, but when they return to port they are welcomed into the community 30 years before they left...
The Lion King
With its beautifully drawn East African setting, its humour, pathos, and engaging characters, as well as its stirring songs, The Lion King stands as the pinnacle of traditional Disney family entertainment.
Image: © Disney, 1994